The 23-year-old American Top Team Atlanta product marched his way through Bellator’s season-five welterweight tournament in impressive fashion with three wins in a span of two months.

Now he has only two things on his mind, and two things only: rest and relaxation, and welterweight champion Ben Askren (9-0 MMA, 6-0 BFC).

In defeating Steve Carl, Chris Lozano, and Ben Saunders in succession, Lima earned the right to challenge Askren for his belt, and according to Lima, the fight will take place near the end of March or the beginning of April in 2012.

However, first things first. His body has some healing to do before he heads back into the gym.

“Fighting every four or five weeks is tougher than I thought,” Lima told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

“My body, there’s always some injuries here and there. You have to be careful so you don’t overtrain, but I’m glad I did it. I stayed busy for four, five months straight, and here I am now. I get a shot at that title. I’m excited about it.”

After surviving an early knockdown due to a punch behind the ear against Carl in the tournament quarterfinals at Bellator 49, Lima managed to bounce back and earn the unanimous decision. A highlight reel knockout over Lozano in the semifinals propelled him to a matchup with UFC veteran Ben Saunders on November 12 at Bellator 57.

Lima rose to the occasion once again by recording a second-round knockout, which left him the last man standing.

A stiffer test awaits in the form of the former four-time Division I All-American wrestler Askren, who remains unblemished in his mixed martial arts career. His resume may be unblemished, but based on his recent title defense against Jay Hieron at Bellator 56, the man is clearly human.

Askren fought tooth-and-nail for 25 minutes with Hieron and won a split decision on the judges scorecards to retain his title. Many felt Hieron did enough to earn the victory. Many others, including Lima, felt the blueprint was laid for defeating Askren.

“Hieron stopped most of his shots,” Lima said. “His defense was on point. Not to take anything away from Askren, but I didn’t think he was that impressive. He didn’t take him down at will. He didn’t control him like he’s done with all his opponents. There’s a way to beat him. The guy is not unbeatable.”

There’s no denying Hieron has a better wrestling pedigree than Lima. So how does he plan to fill in the gap?

“I’ll find a way,” Lima said. “The way he wrestles, that funky style or whatever he’s got. I’ve got some friends that wrestled with him in college. I’m just going to find a way. I’m going to work a lot on my jiu-jitsu as well.

“The best way to counter his top control is to have a good bottom game. I’m going to develop there and find a way to catch him.”

When Lima returns from vacation in Brazil he will reset at his home base in Atlanta, but will eventually migrate down to the American Top Team affiliate in Coconut Creek, Fla., to work with their top wrestlers.

“Most of my training is going to be takedown defense,” Lima said. “I’ll find a way to strike. And I’ll land that good punch or good knee and finish.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?